Currently, you must give employees a statement of terms and conditions within 2 months of employing them. From 6th April 2020, the right to a statement of terms and conditions no longer requires a minimum length of service and applies from the worker’s first working day (and this includes any casual and zero hours workers) This means that you must provide this information no later than an individual’s start date.

There has been a lot of activity encouraging employers to update all existing contracts (at a cost of £100’s to your business) but, you don't need to re-issue contracts for those already working for you before 6 April 2020. 

There are the usual annual increases to the national minimum wage, and you must ensure that you are paying your employees in line with the amended rates. 

On 1st April 2020 the national living wage for workers aged 25 and over increases to £8.72 per hour.

Other national minimum wage rates also increase on this date, with hourly rates rising to £8.20 for workers aged 21 to 24, to £6.45 for workers aged 18 to 20 and to £4.55 for workers aged 16 or 17.

If you do pay in line with minimum wage ensure that you have reviewed your pay scales before April payroll.

The weekly rate of statutory sick pay increases to £95.85 from 6 April 2020 (remember that during the Covid-19 pandemic employees have the right to Statutory Sick Pay from the first day of absence)

If you reference any of these payments in your policies or employee handbook, ensure that they are updated accordingly.

On 6th April 2020, the holiday pay reference period for workers without normal working hours increases from 12 weeks to 52 weeks.

Therefore if you have workers with irregular working hours (e.g. those in seasonal roles) you will need to adjust how you are calculating holiday pay. Your annual leave policy may also require adjusting if it refers to the holiday pay reference period.

On 6th April 2020 the “Swedish derogation” was abolished removing the ability for employers to pay agency workers less than their own workers where an agency worker has completed a 12-week qualifying period.

In addition, all agency workers will be entitled to a key information document which clearly sets out their employment relationships and terms and conditions with their agency.

Currently the law requires that employers with 50 or more employees must set up an information and consultation arrangement if 10% of the workforce request it. This will be lowered to 2%.

The Government have announced that due to the coronavirus and its economic impact the changes to the off-payroll rules due to come into effect on 6th April 2020 have now been delayed until 6th April 2021. At the same time they announced that their decision to suspend the enforcement of the gender pay gap deadlines for this reporting year 2019/20.

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